Managing your categories

Categories are yours to shape

A category is a bucket you sort money into — Groceries, Utilities, Housing, and so on. The app comes with a sensible starter set, but the categories are yours to manage. Rename them to match how you think about your money, add ones you're missing, and remove ones you don't use.

You'll find the controls in the Manage categories panel on the Budget tab. Click it to expand two columns: Expense categories and Income categories.

Add a category

In either column, type a name in the Add category box and click + Add (or press Enter). The new category appears immediately and becomes available everywhere you pick a category — in targets, in the review queue, and in the transaction list.

You can also create a category on the fly while filing a transaction: any category dropdown includes a "＋ New category…" option. Choosing it prompts you for a name and files that transaction into the new category in one step. See Categorizing transactions.

Rename a category

Click a category's name, edit the text, and click away (or press Enter) to save. Because renaming only changes the label, all of that category's targets and transactions stay attached — nothing is re-filed or lost. So if "Discretionary" never sat right with you, rename it to "Fun money" and move on.

Delete a category

Click Delete next to a category you no longer want. You'll be asked to confirm, because deleting has one consequence worth knowing:

• Any transactions in that category are moved to the fallback category —

Other for expenses, Other income for income.

Nothing is thrown away; the spending just lands in the catch-all bucket. Because those two fallbacks are where deletions land, they can't be deleted — they're marked "default."

Expense and income are separate lists

Expenses and income keep their own category lists, and they don't mix. A transaction that's money going out draws from the expense categories; money coming in draws from the income categories. That's why the Manage categories panel has two columns.

The built-in expense categories include Housing / Mortgage, Taxes, Health insurance, Healthcare, Groceries, Utilities, Transportation, Insurance, Discretionary, Debt, and Other. The built-in income categories include Salary / Wages, Social Security, Pension, Investment income, and Other income. Treat these as a starting point — bend them to fit your household.

Note the special 🚫 Excluded (ignore) option you'll see in category dropdowns. It isn't a normal category and won't appear in this panel — it's a way to leave a transaction out of every total, covered in Transfers and exclusions.

See the glossary for more terms.